Starting in the second semester of the Rocklin High School 2025–2026 school year, a bathroom sign-out system much different from the long-used sign-out sheet was introduced. This new system, named FlexiPass, creates a digital version of the bathroom sign-out system. FlexiPass is related to the FlexiSCHED system that is also used at Rocklin for scheduling FLEX. According to Rocklin math teacher, Emily Mitchell this new system, “… replaces the sign-out sheet. So instead of putting your name on a piece of paper with the time in [and] the time out, you just digitally put your ID number in and click ‘Take A Pass’ and then return it when you come back.”
The FlexiPass system also introduces a timer that allows teachers to limit the amount of time students can be out on a pass. Sophomore Ashleigh Fosson thought that Flexipass “… got mad at me. If you go past the timer, it turns red, and it was like, ‘You went past the time,’ and then I got back and I couldn’t clear it.”
Having a time limit on bathroom pass time can create many challenges for students, whether it’s a long wait for the bathroom, an emergency, or a longer walk to the nearest bathroom. On the flip side, the FlexiPass system gives students the opportunity to choose what Rocklin bathroom they attend, such as the L Building bathrooms, J Building bathrooms, or even the V Building bathrooms. Freshman Ameya Banjara said, “You can pick what bathroom you go to, which is nice.” By giving students the choice to choose the bathroom nearest to them, it combats the challenge of not having enough time to walk to the bathroom within the five minutes given.
“I understand students shouldn’t wander off during bathroom breaks, but I feel like I need to take my time using the bathroom.”
– Riya Kishore
As the new system rolls into Rocklin classrooms, students have mixed feelings. Junior Riya Kishore said, “I think the system, in theory, is a good idea. It keeps track of every student, so I guess it’s more for safety reasons.”
It’s the timer that students dislike. Banjara explained how the timer causes difficulty, “When I check out, it tells me that I have five minutes left, and sometimes things take longer than five minutes, and so it’s a little bit restricting.” Kishore went on to say, “I feel like [it] rushes me. You know, I understand kids shouldn’t wander off during bathroom breaks, but I feel like I need to take my time using the bathroom.”
The theory behind the timer is that limiting the time students have during bathroom breaks would be beneficial to the flow of learning in classrooms. It also helps reduce the common issue of using the bathroom as an opportunity to skip class. Nevertheless, limiting a student’s time in the bathroom will surely become an unpopular practice. In the case of an emergency, a timer can feel restricting, and even in a normal situation, being timed can make it “unfair for students based on the amount of time they need to be gone,” sophomore Addie Savage said.
On the other hand, teachers Emily Mitchell and Tara McCollough both felt positive about their experience with the FlexiPass system. Mitchell explained that it made it easier on her end by saying, “There is a digital record of who is out, and it only allows one at a time [in my classroom], so I don’t worry about people trying to do multiple people at a time.”
Mitchell continued on to say, “This is better so we can understand patterns of our students and who’s out, and then there’s some safety [reasons], and there’s some things that I think students complain about as far as things that are happening outside during class time, that maybe this will help [with that].” She finished by saying, “I don’t think it’s to the detriment of the students. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, I just don’t think students should be worried about it.”
Similarly, Mrs. McCollough said, “I love the system because it takes me out of the equation. They still have to ask me if they can go, but then after that, it’s all student driven, which is conv
enient for me and it makes it very streamlined.” She even went on to say that the bathroom situation is “so much worse than it used to be. I used to be able to get through a class without anyone asking to go to the bathroom. And now, with the exception of my AP Calculus classes, it’s very rare.” Overall, both teachers agree that the FlexiPass system makes sending students to the bathroom much easier from their perspective.
The main difference between the current bathroom pass system and the new FlexiPass system is how purely digital FlexiPass is. Banjara said, “It’s very different from what we had in middle school. In middle school, we would just write it out on a pink paper and just sign out and sign back in.” The FlexiPass system brings a major shift in the usual paper-to-pen system that has been used in classrooms previously. Banjara went on to say, “I think we should just go back to the sign-in sheets instead of doing FlexiPass, or just pick one and stick with it, because it’s kind of hard on the students.”
By: Kaitlyn Tri
Staff Reporter
